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Animosity is vintage Ferguson

Talk to the hand: The love has never been too evident between Ferguson and Benitez. Photo: Getty Images

The form for visiting managers at Old Trafford is to bring a bottle of something decent for their host. Jose Mourinho turned up on Tuesday with a handy Portuguese red; Harry Redknapp and Sam Allardyce always come armed with a well-cellared claret.

It is part of the ritual, the unspoken homage to the godfather of the managerial cabal. In the unlikely event of Rafa Benitez bringing a bottle to the FA Cup quarter-final on Sunday as a gift for Sir Alex Ferguson, however, it is far more likely to contain vinegar.

As muscular as the rivalry on the pitch will be, it will carry but a hint of the friction between the two managers. Benitez and Ferguson do not get on. For them, Sunday will be personal. Across 13 meetings, eight of which have been won by the Scotsman and four by the Spaniard, the rancour has fizzed just beneath the surface, a perfunctory touchline handshake the extent of their contact. ''I like to respect people,'' Benitez once said of Ferguson. ''But sometimes I cannot because they push you.''

In the past, Ferguson has implied the Spaniard is deranged and has declined to comment on his actions, saying he was not sufficiently familiar with the writings of Sigmund Freud. For his part, Benitez has refused the opportunity to congratulate Ferguson for winning the title, has stated on record that Arsene Wenger is the leading manager in England, and in a tirade in 2009, claimed the United manager's manipulation of the Football Association and intimidation of match officials were ''fact''.

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The two are not mates. Yet Benitez suggests it was not always thus. In a recent interview, he recalled a genial meeting in a bar before the 2006 Champions League final in Paris. No growling disdain, just a lengthy chat about football. The problems began, he insists, when he turned Liverpool into title contenders. Ferguson's approach to him was exactly the same as it was to Wenger, he claims: as long as he offered a challenge, the Scot would seize every opportunity to alienate. Ferguson will see it differently. After all, he has always got along with Mourinho, however much the Portuguese once threatened his domestic hegemony. And Ferguson was the first to send a congratulatory note when Liverpool won the Champions League in 2005.

Relations first soured after Liverpool tried to sign United's Gabriel Heinze in 2007. Ferguson blocked the move simply because of the historic gap between the clubs. Even when Liverpool tried to conspire a circular transfer via Crystal Palace, he was ahead of them.

From there, Ferguson bridled at Benitez's disdain for English football's masonic order of management. He fumed when his rival attacked his friends in the game, calling David Moyes' Everton a small club, and showing disrespect to Allardyce when Liverpool easily beat Blackburn. Ferguson has long mocked Benitez's lofty reputation for tactical acumen. ''I remember a few years ago when Liverpool beat us 4-1 at Old Trafford,'' Ferguson said. ''That genius Benitez said they had planned to beat us by playing long balls behind us. Remember that? Clown.''

This will be the first time the pair have met since the Spaniard was asked to leave Anfield in 2010. When he was at Liverpool, the club's fans loved it when Benitez clashed with Ferguson. They saw it as an expression of their own antipathy. Now he is at Chelsea things are different. The only thing Chelsea fans would love Benitez to do is resign.

So Benitez will find himself alone on the touchline at Old Trafford, reliant on his reserves of self-esteem.

Were Chelsea to stymie United's double ambition on Sunday, then, as another of Ferguson's previous rivals once put it, he would love it.